US starts Iraq "good news" spin; four troops dead

[pseudobrit]

From the same line of top stories on Yahoo. This is the very definition of irony.

This time the American offensive is rolling out big guns, including President Bush himself, who says the media "filter" is distorting the truth of Iraq. "Sometimes it's hard to tell it when you listen to the filter. We're making good progress," Bush said last week.

Squads of Republican congressmen agree, as they troop through Baghdad on fast-paced tours to see what's going right in Iraq — electricity returning, schools repainted, water pumps repaired. One, Rep. George Nethercutt, went home to Washington state and complained the U.S. press was missing the real story.

"The story of what we've done in the postwar period is remarkable," he said. "It is a better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day."
:rolleyes:

Anyone else find that really insulting to the boys they've sent to die?

When the 100th U.S. soldier died in combat since President Bush declared victory in Iraq nearly six months ago, the grim statistic laid bare how deadly Iraq has become even after the war.

link (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=5&u=/nm/20031017/ts_nm/iraq_toll_dc_2)

link (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031017/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_good_news_and_bad_2)

[zimv20]

i'm insulted that the administration presumes to tell me what i should find important.

report both stories and let me decide.

it doesn't help when the WH declares news outlets biased and decides to ignore them. nice ****ing democracy we got.

[Dont Hurt Me]

we dont need a spin on our own troops deaths, we need to form a international or Iraqi security force and let them be the ones spilling blood for their own country. bring home our troops as soon as we can. also 1 more comment zimv20 sure does love his poiltics.

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
we dont need a spin on our own troops deaths, we need to form a international or Iraqi security force and let them be the ones spilling blood for their own country.

How about we get it to the point where no one is spilling blood?

[g5man]

I agree that it obviously impossible to paint events in Iraq as positive by attempting to overcome the loss of US lives with turning on the electricity in a third-world country.

But in fairness to the other side, the media does over- emphasis the death of soldiers while downplaying the hard work carried out over there.

In an average year the US Armed Forces lose about 1200 soldiers to accidents and sickness. If the media reported each and every one of those deaths as they occurred, the public may get the impression the troops are poorly trained and there is a significant issue to resolve. Headlines would say "4 more soldiers dead today."

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by g5man
But in fairness to the other side, the media does over- emphasis the death of soldiers while downplaying the hard work carried out over there.

Really, though? Think about this: if someone were murdered in your town, would it not make news headlines? War is just murder on a grand scale, the ultimate sin. If the news stops publishing murder in order to downplay it, there's something wrong.

Accidents happen to everyone all over the nation and kill people on the job all the time. If we worried about it that much, we'd have to stay in bed all day so as not to be killed. I don't see the accident rate in the military as being pertinent to this particular discussion.

[g5man]

Originally posted by pseudobrit
Really, though? Think about this: if someone were murdered in your town, would it not make news headlines? War is just murder on a grand scale, the ultimate sin. If the news stops publishing murder in order to downplay it, there's something wrong.

Accidents happen to everyone all over the nation and kill people on the job all the time. If we worried about it that much, we'd have to stay in bed all day so as not to be killed. I don't see the accident rate in the military as being pertinent to this particular discussion.

True a murder in my hometown does make a headline. But a murder in New York does not. The media can control what we see and hear and in this case according to a few, it chooses to emphasis the deaths of soldiers over other events.

I am not saying they should stop reporting the facts, but rather make a larger effort in reporting all of the facts.

The accident example was used only to make the point I think I did above.

;) ;)

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by g5man
I am not saying they should stop reporting the facts, but rather make a larger effort in reporting all of the facts.

So maybe swap out the story about the local bridge construction on page A-12 and the murder on page 1? Murder is such a traumatic event -- the pinnacle of human failings -- that it will always be the lead story. Why would this be any different?

[pdham]

Originally posted by g5man
True a murder in my hometown does make a headline. But a murder in New York does not.

That doesnt mean it shouldnt. Do we as a society really want to get to the point, that another soldier dead in the Middle East is just that, another dead soldier? New York's murder problem is so out of hand it is no longer considered of consequence to the general population. When this occurs almost any hope of fixing the problem vanishes. I dont want to see that in Iraq.

On a seperate note, I am a jouranalism student and the mantra of the profession is: if it bleeds, it leads.

Paul

[idkew]

Originally posted by pdham
On a seperate note, I am a jouranalism student and the mantra of the profession is: if it bleeds, it leads.

Paul

Exactly what Bush was saying. We are doing our best to make things happen over there, but the media is focusing only on the deaths. Yes, deaths should be reported, but we should also learn of progress we have made. I would much rather hear that we are that much closer to getting our friends out of there, than a simple body count.

[Backtothemac]

Pseudo,
I agree it is screwed up over there.

But, there have been more murders in Oakland this year than soldiers killed in Iraq.

That is not on the front page though.

[Sayhey]

Originally posted by Backtothemac
Pseudo,
I agree it is screwed up over there.

But, there have been more murders in Oakland this year than soldiers killed in Iraq.

That is not on the front page though.

It is in Oakland. And last I looked the National government wasn't doing very much to help lower the death rate there either. But more to the point the deaths of the soldiers in Iraq should always be front page news. Our government has asked these men and women to risk life and limb in pursuit of policy aims the President has said is critical for our nation. If he is right they deserve the attention of the nation for their sacrifice. If he is wrong they still deserve the attention and Bush should be held accountable for their deaths.

[idkew]

Originally posted by Sayhey
If he is right they deserve the attention of the nation for their sacrifice. If he is wrong they still deserve the attention and Bush should be held accountable for their deaths.

Unfortunatley, it is impossible to answer that question. This was a premptive war. As it is with prevention, it becomes imposible to know if we prevented something from happening since it will never happen to prove right or wrong.

We are left to gess and make conjectures of what was/was not prevented.

[wwworry]

Originally posted by pdham
That doesnt mean it shouldnt. Do we as a society really want to get to the point, that another soldier dead in the Middle East is just that, another dead soldier? New York's murder problem is so out of hand it is no longer considered of consequence to the general population. When this occurs almost any hope of fixing the problem vanishes. I dont want to see that in Iraq.

On a seperate note, I am a jouranalism student and the mantra of the profession is: if it bleeds, it leads.

Paul

Then you should know that NYC's muder rate is the lowest it's been in the last 35 years (actually 2 years ago it was, lately it's been going up). If you want murders go to Chicago.

[mactastic]

Or DC.